I had already posted about the excellent performance of Isabelle and Samantha (before the boat let her down) and it is time to talk about the stellar performance of somebody that should be at a disadvantage regarding the other racers, but that for some miracle of will and determination, it apparently is not. I am talking about Seguin, that has only one hand, and that for many years competed in Paralympic sailing, where he is a champion.
To the general amazement, he was leading the Vendee when they approached the coast of Spain, and not by brief moments, but for a day, till he had to look for shelter to dive under the boat to cut a large net that was stuck on the keel. Doing this without any support solo, would be for me, and I believe for most sailors, quite scary .... now imagine doing that with only one hand!
I must say that I thought that on an older boat with vertical foils, this outstanding feat, due mostly to brilliant navigation served by great sailing, would be soon forgotten and that by the middle of the Atlantic Damien Seguin would be sailing between the 10th and the 20th places.
But I was wrong and in the North Atlantic he sailed consistently among the 10 first and only in the South Atlantic was he briefly sailing between 11th and 13th place. I believed that this was his true place in the classification. Wrong again, I was very surprised to see him recover brilliantly to 4th place on the passage to the Indian Ocean, ahead of Bestaven and Le Cam!
Now he got my full attention, what a sailor! and with one hand? I simply cannot understand how, on an older boat, he can be as good as others on newer boats with two hands!!! The truth is that his navigation has been brilliant even if the others around have much more experience than him.
On the Southern Ocean, where this year the conditions did not give a big advantage to boats with modern foils, he has been always in the second group that is at the head of the race pursuing the trio that is leading. He lost a lot of time with big problems with the autopilot, that he managed to solve, having to climb to the top of the mast to substitute the wind sensor.
From 8th place he recovered again, to the 6th first, a long time chasing Le Cam and he managed to overtake him several times, the last one these last days due to brilliant navigation and great sailing.
On the last 7 days, from the five that are chasing the leading trio, he was the 2nd that recovered more miles to the leader, 241 miles. Better than him only Isabelle who recovered 217 miles. Dutreux recovered 72, Le Cam 52 miles and Boris recovered 25 miles to Bestaven.
Fact is that on the last 7 days the conditions have been worst for the leading trio but about the same for the pursuing quintet (depending on navigation) and as we can see among them, the gains were very different.
The conditions were even better for the ones that were more aft on the race and also due to great sailing we have seen some great recuperations, with many miles won to the leader and none won more than Tripon, that reduced his difference in 692 miles! Great performance also by Burton that after staying for almost one day on the shelter of Macquaire island for repairs, recovered 404 miles and Sorel who recovered 397 miles and managed to join the quintet that is chasing the leading trio and that has almost caught Ruyant.
Also a note for Pedote that recovering 247 miles is almost joining the second group and Clarisse that sailing fast recovered 266 miles. With 10 boats within 388 miles, this Vendée is the most competitive ever and an incredibly interesting one to follow, with incidents and changes in the classification happening every day.
Cheers to all of them for brightening this dark year and giving us fantastic entertainment contributing to making sailing a more popular sport. And cheers to Damien Seguin that is a living example that adversity can be overcome.
The J45 is a very much awaited boat and represents the continuation of a tradition that was broken more than a decade ago. J/boats used to have big offshore cruisers but since the J145 (48ft), launched 18 years ago, they didn't produce any bluewater performance cruiser bigger than 40ft. And even the bigger one, the J122e, with an interior renovated in 2014, had a 12-year-old hull.
There is also the J133, a 43ft boat, launched 14 years ago, but that one was much more of a racer than a performance cruiser, never having a version with the beautiful interiors that e-series offers.
You may even remember that J boats had once a performance cruiser with 53ft, the J160, the last one built 20 years ago, but since the J boat production was transferred to J composites, in France, never a big yacht was built there.
If you are American you may be wondering why the hell did J boats building went to France? Well, the answer is simple, the Europeans like J boats better than the Americans and more boats were sold in Europe than in America, so, for cutting costs they transferred the production to where more boats were being sold.
I really hope that the situation changes and Americans modify their tastes, which seem to go now more for motorboats and increase their preference for performance ones because J/boat tradition is an American one, they are still designed, as always, by Johnstone. I would be very glad if they were produced in the USA too, not only because they are American boats, but also because that would mean that Americans were more into sailing again.
When I heard about the new J/boats 45 I was really hoping that this was the one where Johnstone would modify the transom design from a traditional one to a more contemporary design, one that would not only maximize performance upwind and in light winds, but one that would make sailing downwind easier while cruising (and therefore faster), diminishing roll and facilitating the auto-pilot work.
But no, the transom design is not even as adapted for short crewed sailing as the one of the J 121, it is more like the one on the J112e, certainly a fast hull that, like the one of the J112e, will be able to obtain very good or even top handicap racing results, but not the more adapted for performance cruising, and that seems it was the main design criteria since for racing they have the other line that they call "sport boats".
The J 45 looks very elegant and only the transom design detracts from the contemporary looks, giving it a strong (too strong?) traditional flavor.
First J45e, above J121
There is nothing like it in Europe, not even the ones that have more traditional hulls like Italia yachts, Grand Soleil or X-yachts, come close in that retro transom look.
This is the first J boat with two steering wheels and that, a slightly inverted bow, and a very well designed modern interior is what makes it stand from other J/boats designs.
A pity that contemporary look is not extended to the transom and that the max beam is not brought more aft.Sure, there are still sailors that prefer very traditional stern shapes, but they are not the ones that are interested in fast performance yachts, but the ones that are interested in good old heavy boats with a retro design, that is certainly a thing this boat is not. So, I confess that the option for a very traditional stern in this boat, taking into account the potential clients, is something that puzzles me.
X 4-6
Difficult to know the J45 exact size because they give on the site as hull length the LOA, including the small fixed bowsprit, but it should be something around 44ft. It will be competing on the market with the Grand Soleil 44P, the X4-6 and the Solaris 44.
If we look at the LWL we will see that the J 45 has 12.56m, the X4-6 has 12.33, and the Solaris 44 12,71m. They don't give GS44P LWL but the LOA is similar to the J45 one (13.45 for 13.85) if we consider bowsprits of similar size, being the one on the GS44P much bigger than the standard one on the J45.
Solaris 44
On both boats they have options for bigger bowsprits being the biggest one on the J45 about the same size as the standard one on the GS44P. The fixed bowsprit is another novelty on the J45e substituting the traditional retractable one that was a trade-mark on J/boats.
I cannot say I like the new bowsprit, that seems too small and that nevertheless increases the LOA, and what one would pay at a marina. Sure, it is cheap to build and does not compromise any space on the forward cabin but that could be solved (using the retractable one) by introducing a sail locker, which sadly is a thing the J45 does not have, contrary to some of the competition.
Grand Soleil 44P
The J45 seems to have a lot less beam than the others, but that is not true, being the wrong impression given by the smaller transom, due to the beam not being brought back, like on the others.
The J45 max Beam is 4.25m the X4-6 has 4.27m, the GS 44P 4.30m and the Solaris 44 has 4.18m, being the narrowest among them.... and looking at the hull it is hard to notice that.
With a displacement of 9900kg the J45e displaces the same as the Solaris 44, it is lighter than the X4-6 (10900kg) but heavier than the GS44P, which displaces 9000kg.
The J45 has 41,9% B/D with an L bulbed keel with 2.30m draft, the X4-6 has a 41.3%B/D on a 2.30m torpedo keel, the Grand Soleil 44s has 30% B/D with a 2.50m torpedo keel, and the Solaris 44 has 36,4% B/D with a T keel with 2.60m draft.
Above J45e, below X4-6
The J45 is the one with the bigger B/D but the small difference to the X-yacht would be more than compensated by the more efficient kell design and in what regards overall stability, on boats with about the same beam, the aft hull design of X 4-6 will give it more form stability.
Looking at the J45, the GS and the Solaris, the B/D is smaller on the two last ones, but they have more efficient T keels, that lower the keel CG, and have more draft (20cm for the GS, 30cm for the Solaris). That difference in the draft and the lower CG, that a more efficient torpedo keel allows results in about a 500kg saving in ballast weight maintaining a similar keel performance in what regards RM and provides also a slight gain in drag.
Solaris 44, above 2011 model, below 2018 model
If you take that factor into consideration, for comparing what is comparable, the J45 compensated B/D would be 36,9%, a value that is similar to the one of the Solaris but still a bit bigger than the one of the Grand Soleil.
Anyway, even the B/D Grand Soleil value is much bigger than what we will find on mass production boats and in what regards performance and ORC/IRC rating, after some point in B/D (taking into account draft) the ballast has to do with performance options, losing on strong wind situations and winning on light wind due to having a lighter boat. That is not by accident that the Grand Soleil, being the one with less ballast is also the lighter boat and by a big margin.
Grand Soleil 44P
Saying this I do prefer boats with a bigger B/D but it is good not to forget that the transom design of the other boats give a bit more form stability than what is provided by the J45 hull due to its option for a beam not brought back, that results in a smaller transom. Also, it should be said that the J45 hull, even if doesn't seem, it is a beamy one and beam is a major contributor to hull form stability.
I have no doubt that the J45 will have a very good sailing performance and that the rating would be favorable for ORC/IRC racing, with an excellent upwind and light wind performance, but the option for a narrow transom has other disadvantages in what regards cruising, namely the smaller available space for the aft cabins and for storage on the back of the boat. Above, J45e, below Solaris 44
For having similar storage space on a boat with a narrow transom you need to make it longer, occupying a bigger interior length that results on the J45 in lack of space to provide a sail locker/storage space at the bow.
Due to this, the J45 will offer a considerable smaller outside storage space than any of the other boats and that can be translated into the need of using one of the aft cabins for storage purposes, if long cruising periods are to be considered as well as living aboard for a considerable period of time.
That can be a problem if three available cabins are considered necessary, and not a problem if only two cabins are necessary, but even in this case the absence of a sail locker to store a gennaker and a storm sail can be a nuisance and it is difficult to understand on a boat like the J45.
Nicer optional bigger bowsprit.
On the positive side this boat comes already equipped with many items that come as options on the other considered boats, like the bowsprit, the traveler for the main, the 6 winches, genoa tracks and hydraulic backstay adjuster. Well positive, if you want them, an unnecessary increase in price if you don't, but I trust that, contrary to all clients of the other brands, all Jboats clients would want all that equipment that translates itself on a bigger standard price.
The price, 429.975 euros, without taxes and at the shipyard, is similar to one of the X4-6 (424 700 euros), taking into consideration what was said above. Even if considering that they come with less sail equipment, the Grand Soleil 44P (319 000 euros) and the Solaris 44 (314.000 euros) are less expensive.
The interior seems very well designed, cozy and agreeable and it is to be expected the high quality and finish that are typical on the J/boat e-series. The very light wood finish is something new on Jboats. I am very curious to see this interior, but if they look as good as in the drawings, it will be very nice.
The building is of high-quality, using the same materials and building techniques (infusion, cored hulls and decks, vinylester resins) as the yachts I am comparing it with and the differences will be in details, like a steel frame on the X-yachts versus a structure made of composite frames, sometimes carbon-reinforced, on all others or all maritime plywood bulkheads versus some of them made in cored composite. All of the bulkheads are laminated and bonded to the hull and deck.
The J45 is a new performance cruiser that will increase the performance cruiser choices on probably the most popular market segment, the one between 43/46 ft, and a different choice, given the "traditional" looking hull, with the beam not brought back and small transom.
I should add that the hull design, and particularly transom design will not have a negative influence on sailing performance if we take into account the use that will be given to most cruising sailboats, meaning sailing in the Med, Baltic and Caribbean on the "right" season, with light to medium winds, and on those circumstances may even have an advantage over most designs that look much more modern to the eye.
The disadvantage will be downwind with stronger winds and not only in speed but on the easiness in controlling the yacht with an autopilot. Even if the boat is used for passage and crossing oceans, most of the time it will be sailed out of the trade winds (unless it is used for a circumnavigation) and there this hull design would not be at a disadvantage, particularly out of strong winds, as it was shown on the efficacity they have shown at the last Middle of the Sea race.
Certainly, an elegant and fast yacht that I hope can find a market, even if I don't believe that transom design will help with the sales or the price, but maybe I am wrong, and many sailors were just waiting for a fast performance cruiser with traditional lines and a "traditional" transom.
The international jury has decided the compensations to give to the sailors that were diverted by the organization to search for Escoffier, after his boat break in two.
A bit what it was expected except for Le Cam which seems to have more time than what he lost but the Juri also considered the extra fatigue and stress that he presumably had while searching and recovering Escoffier. In my opinion that is a bit arbitrary but understandable especially after the hero role that was attributed to him after the successful recovery.
The time compensation for Bestaven, 10 hours and 15 minutes, seems correct to me, it is according to what I had estimated and takes into consideration that he had to invert his course to go to the accident´s place.
The time compensation for Boris, 6 hours, seems to be in concordance with the time attributed to Bestaven taking into consideration that when the accident happened he was behind and sailed to the place (on the right direction) for about 3 to 4 hours and that explains de time difference to Bestaven.
The time compensation to LeCam, 16 hours 15 minutes, takes into consideration that at the time of the accident he was 30 miles behind Escoffier, sailing in the same course so he did not lose time till arriving at the local and that he was there for about 9,5 to 10 hours looking for and recovering Escoffier. It takes also into consideration the one to two hours that he lost to deliver Escoffier to the French frigate.
The lost time by Le Cam should have been something like 12 hours having had an extra compensation of about 4 hours for the extra fatigue that all this had eventually cost him.
Not contesting the time compensations, to make things clear, I believe that the Juri should make public all these calculations and the different factors that led to them and their ponderations. I hope that the organization will do that because it is important to have transparency on a race that was raced in real-time and that unfortunately, it is not anymore, with implications in what regards who is leading the race.
And regarding that, with 10 hours 15 minutes compensation and already ahead of Ruyant, Bestaven is leading the race with an advantage much bigger than the distance that separates him from Ruyant. That distance, at the speed they are racing on the last day would not be 14 miles but more than 170 nautical miles.
Boris that is now 7th with this time compensation will be 5th and Le Cam, if we take into consideration the average on the last 24 hours will maintain the 4th place but now closer to Dalin, being at about 100 nautical miles instead of 300. Even if we consider that the average speed that he made on the last day is below his average (12.6) and considering the average speed of the last week (15,5kt) he would still be behind Dalin for about 50 nautical miles.
Who is Yannick Bestaven, the new Vendée Globe leader? A 48-years-old French engineer, responsible for the development of the first of the modern hydro-generators, the Watt&Sea , and that like many solo racers started his solo offshore career in the minis, in 1998. In 2001 he won the mini-transat, in a boat built by himself.
After the minis he raced on multi Orma 60 and on the Figaros (2nd rookie on the Solitaire in 2005) with medium results.
Attempted his first and very short Vendée Globe in 2008, with an old boat, but lost the mast very early in the race.
The 2nd big victory was in 2011, when he won the class 40 on the Transat Jacques Favre (with Éric Drouglazet) . After being 4th in 2013, he won again, on class 40, that Transat in 2015 (with Pierre Brasseur).
In 2017 he was 5th on the Jacques Favre but this time in an Imoca, with Kito de Pavant (Kito’s boat). He bought an old Imoca for doing the Route du Rhum, but lost the mast (again) and had to abandon.
He bought his current boat in 2018 to make this Vendee and curiously this Imoca, even if now owned by him maintained the Sponsor and the name, Maître Coq IV, the same with which Jérémie Beyou was 3rd on the last Vendée. It is a relatively new boat, launched in 2015 and designed by Verdier – VPLP.
With this boat, and learning how to sail it with the previous owner, Roland Jourdain, he was 11th on the 2019 Transat Jacques-Vabre 2019 but was a lot better alone on the Vendée-Arctique-Les Sables-d'Olonne (6th), the race that was just before the Vendée and now he sails his boat even faster, having been on 24 hour averages many times the fastest among all racing at the head of the race.
Yes, the organization still gives Dalin as leader of the race but that is absurd because, with the time allowance and the miles that correspond to it, he is the one leading and with some advantage.
There is no reason for not having already attributed to him, and the others, the time they lost when they, at the request of the organization, stopped the race for looking for Kevin Escoffier.
He was the only one that had to invert course to go to the area and he lost at least 8 or 9 hours or more, due to having inverted course to the accident location.
In fact it would make more sense and it would be more than just that instead of hours they would attribute them miles, not hours because depending on the sea and wind conditions those hours can be translated into very different miles.
What they should do was to transform that time in miles considering the speed they had been making on the last for hours before being diverted by the organization or the miles Ruyant, the one that was sailing closer to them had made in those hours.
That would have the advantage of, regarding these sailors, allowing to show his real position but also with a ghost image in the tracker, the position where they really are regarding the race classification.
This would allow to end this ridicule situation, with the organization showing a leader that is not in fact the leader anymore. We are talking here about a lot of miles: when Bestaven was diverted by the organization to help with the searches he was the only one who had to sail backwards.
In the last 4 hours before that he had made an average of 16.6 knots and Ruyant, who was the closest to Bestaven, and who was doing a very similar average , doing an average of more than 17 knots in the following eight hours.
If the average Bestaven was making in the last 4 hours is considered (16.6 knots) and considering that he only lost 8 hours (it was more), it gives a lost distance of 133 miles. If they consider the average speed of Ruyant on the next 8 hours after he was stopped by the organization, it will give a redress of 139 nautical miles.
As Bestaven yesterday was at only 112 miles from Dalin, now he is at 91.6 and this means that he has been leading the the Vendée for some days already. The not disclosure of the redress given to these sailors starts to be scandalous since it has a direct implication on who is leading the race and regarding the first places.
Italia Yachts makes sailboats under a great moto: “Our mission: to build fast, elegant and safe boats with timeless design and a quality going far beyond the beautiful lines.” And they do that pretty well, a pity the brand not being more known by the ones that love sailing and beautiful sailboats. The main reason for that has to do with the brand being relatively new.
The first time I heard about it was in Croatia, almost ten years ago, when I was test sailing a Salona 38, a new boat at the time. The other sailor that was doing the same told me that he was undecided between the Salona and the Italia 10.98.
I had never heard about the boat and thought that he was talking about a 10.98 made in Italy and asked about the brand, Italia he said, not the country, but the brand. I remember that I thought odd a boat that had as brand the name of a country. Now I am used to it but I guess the same happens with the ones that never heard about it.
Anyway, the brand exists since 2011 and the first boat, that is still produced, is the Italia 10.98. The shipyard was in Chioggia, near Venetia, on the lagoons but when they started to produce bigger boats with more draft they had to move to San Giorgio de Nogaro, more to the North, near Monfalcone, on the Laguna de Marano, that has a channel to the port that allows for bigger drafts.
The 10.98 is a fast boat with a very traditional IRC/ORC line (not far from Jboats hull), light and fast, well built, designed by Cossutti and meant to be a cruiser-racer with a good interior, but also able to achieve top places while racing. The boat was a mixed success, a nice performance cruiser and a very good club racer, with some top racing results, but never able to win the ORC European or World Championships.
The 13.98 followed, a very beautiful boat and a performance cruiser, with a traditional line and a luxurious well designed interior. It was not a cruiser racer, neither intended to win races at top level, just a great fast cruising boat and a successful one, having won the 2013 European yacht of the year award.
In 2014 they launched a 60ft (15.98) with the same characteristics, a well built, fast, traditional lines performance cruiser, but in that year they also launched a small cruiser-racer that would be much more successful than the bigger boat, the 9.98, both designed by the in-house Architect , Matteo Polli.
The 15.98 is a nice boat in a traditional way, maybe a bit too traditional in what regards hull shape, but the 9.98 was another story, with a very modern hull, the boat quickly became a racing success winning two world ORC racing championships (2015, 2016) and many national European championships.
With the 9.98 they separated the offer into two lines, one more pointed to racing, that they called
“Fuoriserie” and one for performance cruisers that they called “Belissima”. Next year, in 2015, they launched a 43 ft performance cruiser, the 12.98, fast and elegant, with a more modern hull than the 13.98, but still with some traditional all around flavor.
But the demand of an Italia 9.98 with a comfortable and beautiful interior was unexpectedly big, so, in 2017 they began producing the 9.98 with two different interiors, one more naked for racing and other with a beautiful interior, for performance cruising. The 9.98 was the first Italia yacht produced on the two series, with the same hull, but very different interiors.
And that was a turning point because from then on all the new yachts, the 11.98, in 2019 and the 14.98 this year, were produced on the two lines, with the same hull, one developed for top performance, without no concessions to tradition.
On the two lines, “Fuoriserie” or “Belissima” the boats have very different interiors and also different running rigging, different keels and draft but with interchangeable parts.
For the ones that like fast cruising boats and beautiful boats these can only be good news.
IY 14.98, GS48, Solaris 47
There is no reason for the hull of a top fast cruiser-racer not to be the same as the one of a fast performance cruiser and the ones that love sailing find beauty on the hulls that come directly from the racing ground, designed for overall best performance. That can only contribute for a more beautiful and desirable performance cruiser.
While being too early to tell about the 14.98 racing performance, it is not the case with the Italia 11.98 that in the launch year won the ORC World Championship… and that is quite a feat.
The 14.98 is designed by Maurizio Cossutti and not by Matteo Polli, 9.98 and 11.98 designer (that recently designed the Grand Soleil 44). Cossuti is better known for designing the new C Bavaria line but also designed the NM 38 that won two ORC world championships and curiously Matteo Polli worked several years on Cossutti design cabinet.
Anyway, the design is a very nice one, on the lines of the 11.98, and even if the 14.98 proves not to be so competitive at top level as the 9.98 and the 11.98, it surely will be a very fast performance cruiser and with the 11.98, comparatively faster than previous performance cruisers from Italia Yachts.
These two boats marked on Italia Yachts a big change of paradigm regarding beauty on a yacht that was previously associated with traditional lines, while now beauty is associated with pure performance.
In fact, in what regards the cruising line, this alteration in beauty concept changed partially the market to whom Italia yachts was pointed to: From a slightly conservative one, with sailors that liked fast boats but with traditional shapes, to sailors that like very fast cruising boats and associate the beauty of the shapes with performance and don't care if they look traditional or not, in fact, they prefer that they look different and contemporary.
I find the 14.98 a very beautiful sailboat, one that joins a top performance hull with the great interior design and top quality interiors that are a trademark of Italia yachts. The build quality is high using Infusion with vinylester resins, e-glass on a cored hull and deck with pvc foam as core. The bulkheads are made of maritime plywood, glued and laminated to the boat’s structure, hull and deck.
The boat structure is a huge integral matrix, with carbon reinforcements, a bit like the one used on the Bavaria C line, with all furniture and bulkheads connected. It gives the boat a big rigidity but it can be a problem in repair costs if the keel hits violently something and a big repair is needed.
I am taking so much time with an introduction because it seems to me very important to explain the change this yacht represents in what regards Italia yachts cruisers, as well to explain what type of boat we are talking about, one that like Grand Soleil (Performance line) can be adapted to owner’s request from an almost pure racer to a fast performance cruiser, that can become faster with interchangeable parts from the “Fuoriserie” like 6 winches, a traveler for the main, carbon spars and so on.
A different proposition than what used to be Italia’s performance cruiser offer, a less traditional and faster yacht.
The Italia 14.98 is really a 47.7ft boat, with a 14.55m hull length, slightly bigger than the Solaris 47 (14.35) and smaller than the Grand Soleil 48P (14.90), being less beamier than any of them with a 4.33m beam while de Solaris has 4.36 and the GS 4.50. More than beam, the bigger difference between the three hulls is the transom and aft part of the hull, where they are substantially different.
The Solaris has all the beam brought back and has a transom that being very well designed, with a chine that restricts more heeling, diminishes upwind performance and increases drag in light wind. This has advantages in what regards control rolling or making the auto-pilot task easier while sailing downwind, all positive points while cruising. Even so it is much more rounded than for instance the transom of an Oceanis 46,1, that being much smaller in length (13.65m) has already a much bigger beam (4.50).
The Italia 14.98 and the grand Soleil 48P have hulls maximized for overall performance, similar in not having all beam brought back, but having a different transom design. On the Italia the transom design is very similar to the one of the GS 44 (designed by Polli) while the one on the GS 48, designed by Lostuzzi, has an older design, one that is a bit less effective in what regards downwind sailing, or in increasing hull stability without increasing much drag.
Of course, the difference in performance is minimal and will have no impact in what regards cruising and a small difference in what regards racing, but a big difference in what regards the looks of a sailboat.
Because beauty in a fast boat is directly related with the shapes that perform better in competition, the transom of the GS 48P looks a bit outdated and the one of the Italia 14.98 looks gorgeous.
The Italia 14.98 Fuoriserie displaces 9980kg, the Bellissima 10 250kg, the GS 48 Race displaces 10 500kg, the performance version 11 500kg while the Solaris 47, that has no race version weights 12 600 kg.
Not a big difference in weight in what regards the cruiser-racer version (Italia/GS) taking into consideration that the GS is bigger, but already a very considerable difference on the performance version and a much bigger one to the Solaris , even a bigger difference if we consider that the Solaris is a smaller boat.
Inexplicably Italia yachts do not have on their site ballast information regarding the 14.98 but when asked they provided very detailed information regarding ballast, types of keels, different ballasts on different versions, and even information about the keel CG, with the weight of the steel foil and torpedo weight.
And that allows to have a pretty good idea of the differences in RM regarding different options and permits to see that the more sportive boat will not only be lighter as it will be more powerful, unless you want to mount its 3.00 draft keel on the Bellissima, even if it limits the cruising potential.
On the Fuoriserie version the Italia has 4438 kg ballast, 3889kg on a bulb and 549kg on a steel structure, a foil, that holds the torpedo on a keel with 3.00m draft. This gives a 44.5% B/D, truly the one of a racing boat, that compares very positively with 37.9% B/D that the racing version of the GS 48 has (assuming the ballast on the racing version is the same as in the performance cruising version) on a similar keel with the same draft (3.00m).
IY14.98, GS48, Solaris 47, Oceanis 46.1
This ballast, 88% of it in a torpedo, will give the Italia 14.98 Fuoriserie a huge stability making it a more powerful boat than the GS 48 race, unless this one is made of carbon (an option) and it becomes much lighter, certainly an expensive option (they don’t disclose the displacement).
On the cruising performance version the 14.99 has a similarly designed keel with 2.50m draft with slightly more ballast to partially compensate the bigger RM provided by the deeper bulb position on the Fuoriserie version.
With a total ballast of 4478 kg, but with a bigger proportion on the torpedo (90%) due to the smaller foil, the Bellissima has 43.7% B/D, much more than the GS 48 performance that has 34,6% on a 2.60m draft keel. The 10cm difference in draft, on similar keels, reduces a bit the effectiveness of that difference in B/D but it is far from compensating it.
The Solaris 47 has a 2.80m draft, a similar keel with a 34.3% B/D. The extra 20cm draft probably will more than compensate the small difference in B/D for the GS but will stay far from the one in the Italia 14.98. It is true that the GS and Solaris with a bigger beam will have a bit more hull form stability but the difference in beam is not as considerable as the difference in B/D and more beam (and more weight) means also more drag, specially upwind with waves on in light winds.
Regarding B/D it is just fair to say that if the Italia 14.98’s 43.7% B/D on an efficient keel with 2,50m draft, is an exceptional good value for a performance cruiser. The ones of the Grand Soleil 48 (34.6%) and Solaris 47 (34.3%) on keels with a slightly bigger draft (2.60 and 2.80) are very respectable values and have nothing to do with the ones that are usual on mass production cruisers, like for instance the Oceanis 46.1 that has a 24.3% B/D on a much less efficient keel (bulbed cast iron/lead) with 2.65m draft.
The Italia upwind sail area is 133m2, 129m2 for Solaris and 127,4m2 for Grand Soleil. Lighter, with more sail area with more RM and less drag, the Italia wins in all chapters and it is clear that it is the most powerful of the three and the faster, assuming it is well designed, and I have no doubts about that.
The boat dimensions and the shape of hull can say much about the boat sailing potential but there are other many factors related with design integration and harmony that can only be revealed in several boat tests, in different sea and wind conditions. I will be waiting for them to make another post about a boat that risks entering on my absolute favorite list.
The price is not as nice as all other data about the 14.98, it costs standard (Bellissima) at the shipyard without VAT 450 000 euros while the slightly smaller Solaris 47 costs 396 000 euros and the bigger Solaris 50 (15.40m) costs 480 000 euros.
